Poem: WEEP LIKE A WOMAN FOR WHAT YOU COULD NOT HOLD AS A MAN

By Cherene Sherrard

Nov. 3, 2017

Selected by Terrance Hayes

One side of this poem has “such a lovely sound to it” — “Boabdil,” “the geometric garden,” the “rose vines ... teal and terracotta.” The other side of the poem functions as an allegory of defeat. A sobbing king surrenders his kingdom. My question for you: Is the speaker here a tourist visiting Alhambra or a statue looking over the scene? Multiple answers are correct.

Image

Terrance Hayes is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently “How to Be Drawn,” which was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2015. His fourth collection, “Lighthead,” won a 2010 National Book Award. Cherene Sherrard is a professor in the English department of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her debut collection of poetry, “Vixen,” was published in September by Autumn House Press.

Illustration by R.O. Blechman

Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of The New York Times Magazine delivered to your inbox every week.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page 17 of the Sunday Magazine with the headline: Weep Like A Woman For What You Could Not Hold As a Man. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe